Do-nothing Congress doing what it does best

Again, do-nothing Congress doing what it does best

No budget. No Farm Bill. No spending appropriations. In short, no progress. That is the record of the current 112th Congress, a body that has bickered much, accomplished little, and continues to ignore its responsibilities to the American people.

Lawmakers will do this week what they do best: Kick another can down the road. The Senate is expected to follow the House in approving a stop-gap spending measure to keep the government running for another six months. That conveniently absolves them from any difficult pre-election budgeting decisions.

It is the latest dereliction of duty from a gridlocked group that, once again, has put its own political considerations ahead of the public good. On issues great and small these past two years, Congress has either fallen down on the job or ignored the job altogether.

Take the Farm Bill, which expires at the end of this month. The Senate passed a five-year version of a new bill back in June. But the measure has stalled in the House, where the tea party branch of the Republican majority wants deeper cuts in food stamp spending.

Failure to negotiate a bill will be felt in western New York, where dairy farmers, who have seen a new market for their product mushroom with the growth of the state's yogurt industry, would not get price supports. Wineries in the Finger Lakes would lose out on funding to export their products. Farmers of all stripes would have no certainty regarding crop subsidies and drought relief.

An even greater challenge is the combination of spending reductions and tax increases set to automatically take effect in January. The so-called "fiscal cliff," which economists warn could trigger another recession, is the result of - surprise! - congressional intransigence. After narrowly averting a government shutdown last summer over an increased spending cap, Congress appointed a super-committee to negotiate commensurate cuts. The committee failed; now automatic spending cuts loom.

Of course, these triggers could be averted if Congress can negotiate a new spending plan. That's a big if.

Even seemingly small decisions are held hostage. Locally, Monroe County Court Judge Frank Geraci Jr.'s nomination to the federal bench in New York's Western District awaits full Senate approval. The district has been without a judge since March 2009. There's no excuse for Congress not to act this week.

Small miracle, then, that Congress managed last week to approve Sen. Charles Schumer's bill to install a statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass on Capitol Hill.

Whoever wins the upcoming presidential election, and whichever party finds itself with House and Senate majorities next year, attitudes need to change in Washington. After all this can kicking, it is Congress itself that needs a kick in the can.